Golf glove palm-smoothing means

ABSTRACT

A golf glove, including a rear and a palm portion; a V-shaped opening in the rear portion of the glove, extending inward and tapering inward from the wrist edge of the glove, for permitting the glove to be donned and removed; fastening means of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;Velcro&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; type along the edges of the opening to fasten it closed and to facilitate individual adjustment and tightening at the wrist; first elastic means for pulling the rear of the glove laterally inward, the elastic means being curved such that the concave curvature is facing toward the wrist edge of the glove; second elastic means encircling the glove around the wrist and intersecting the fastening means, for holding the glove tightly on the hand.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Frank E. Perrella Gloversvllle, N.Y.

[21 I Appl. No. 4,698

[22] Filed Jan. 21,1970

[45] Patented Aug. 24, 1971 [73] Assignee Joseph Perella, lnc.

Glovemllle, N.Y.

[ S4] GOLF GLOVE PALM-SMOOTHING MEANS .ABSTRACT: A golf glove, including a rear and a palm por- 3,273,165 Sperandeo 3,372,401 3/1968 Woodward.... 2/159 3,430,265 3/1969 Mazza 2/162 3,504,379 4/1970 Glick 2/161 Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Attomey-Ostrolenk, Faber, Gerb & Soffen tion; a V-shaped opening in the rear portion of the glove, extending inward and tapering inward from the wrist edge of the glove, for permitting the glove to be donned and removed; fastening means of the Velcro type along the edges of the opening to fasten it closed and to facilitate individual adjustment and tightening at the wrist; first elastic means for pulling the rear of the glove laterally inward, the elastic means being curved such that the concave curvature is facing toward the wrist edge of the glove; second elastic means encircling the glove around the wrist and intersecting the fastening means, for holding the glove tightly on the hand.

GOLF GLOVE PALM-SMOOTHING MEANS This invention relates to a golf glove which is designed to remain smooth and taut on the hand of a golfer through prolonged use and repeated donning and removal.

Originally, to have a taut, smooth glove, a golfer obtained a glove that was too small and thus was tight on his hand. Eventually, the glove stretched and became useless, necessitating frequent replacement.

To prolong its usefulness, a golf glove was provided with elastic on its rear side. This drew the rear of the glove laterally inward andhelped keep it taut and smooth through repeated wearings and resultant stretching. Yet, elastic on the rear side alone was not sufficient. Since an individuals hand is wider than his wrist, the wrist portion of aglove is either made sufficiently wide to pass over the hand, or is arranged in a manner such that it stretches or opens to pass over the hand. The glove with elastic only on the rear side might not have been sufficiently tight around the wrist to hold the glove securely on the golfers hand when the glove was in use. Thus, while the lateral pull exerted by elastic tended to hold the glove taut, the glove still tended to bunch up, in the direction between fingers and wrist.-To counteract this, either elastic was positioned around the wrist of the glove and was made sufficiently tight to hold the glove securely on the wrist, or a glove that had an opening inward from the wrist to permit the wrist of the glove to he slid over the golfers hand, also was provided with fastening means for closing the opening after the glove had been donned. This drew the glove tight along the direction between fingers and wrist.

Since wrist thicknesses and the comfort levels of different golfers vary, elastic alone or fixed fastening means did not provide the best solution for holding gloves in place. U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,401 teaches, in combination with elastic, an adjustable buckle attached to the elastic for adjustably stretching and tightening the elastic. The buckle uses a Velcro-fastening means. Velcro consists of two pieces of material which face each other. One piece is covered with finely woven filaments formed into permanent hooks. Theother is covered with soft loops. When the two pieces of material are pressed together, the hooks and loops interengageand fasten tightly, thereby completing the buckling. The glove in this prior art patent is laterally tightened across the palm of the user, but it is not continuously tightened in a direction perpendicular to the lateral tightening, i.e., the direction between fingers and wrist.

The glove of the present invention is an improvement over the prior art in that it provides both the lateral tightening that is provided by the priorart and tightening in the direction betweenfingers and wrist. To provide lateral tightening,

toward the fingers of. the glove sufiiciently so as topass around the inward end of the opening into the rear portion of the glove and is alsobetween the opening and the knuckles of the wearer. When the elastic means normally contracts and pulls the glove in against the outward force exerted by the width and thickness of the hand of the wearer,'the elastic means also tends to pull the rear portion of the glove toward the wrist of the wearer in a direction perpendicular .to the lateral direction. V

The fastening means on the wrist-of the glove cooperates with the above noted curved elastic means so that the forces on theglove exerted by the contracting elastic means do not pull the wrist of the glove off the wearers wrist, but instead pull the finger portions and rear portionof the glove onto the hand of the wearer and thereby tighten the palm portion of the glove.

ln addition, the widest portion of the V-shaped opening in the rear portion faces toward the wrist edge. When the two edges of the opening are pulled toward each other-and then secured by the fastening means, theV-shapecauses the rear of the glove to pull downward toward'the wrist of the wearer, thereby tightening the entire glove and especially the palm portion. This tightening of the rear of the glove cooperates with the concave shaping of the elastic means on the rear of the glove to more securely hold theglove in place.

As a further feature of the present invention, the fastening means consists of a conventional fastening deviceknown as Velcro, which has been describedabove. The Velcro fastening extends along substantially the entire length of the edges of the opening into the glove. Whenthe edges of the opening are fastened to one another by being pressed together, it is desirable to cause as much of the length of the edges tobe fastened together as is possible for a particular wearers hand. The portions of the edges which are over the wearer's wrist can easily be fastened together. Further up toward the knucklesvof the wearer, the hand broadens and there is a smaller likelihood that the edges will overlap to be pressed together. With wearers having different width hands, and with' the glove stretching through long wear, the Velcro fastening means extending along substantially the entire length of the opening into the glove enables the wearer to engage as much of the elastic is attached to and extends laterally across the rear portion of the glove. This pulls the rear portion of the glove tight, and thereby stretches the attached palm portion. On its rear 1 portion, the glove has a V-shaped opening extending inward from the wrist edge of the glove toward the fingers. This opening permits the portion of the glove that surrounds the wrist to be widened sufficiently to fit over the wide portion of the hand. Once the glove has been donned, securing means attached to the edges of the opening fasten it closed,{thereby tightly securing the glove on the wristofthe wearer. Tightening of the glove around the wrist and back of the hand laterally tightens the palm portion of the glove, thereby tightening the glove on the hand of the wearer. I I

The present invention also tightens the glove in a direction transverse to, and usually perpendicular to, the lateral tighten-.

ing. Two features of the glove cooperate to accomplish this. First, the above-described elastic means across the rear portion of the glove, which provides lateral tightening of the glove, is curved, with the concave side ofthe curvature facing toward the wrist edge of the glove. The'outward ends of the elastic means terminate: at a location that is sufficiently close to the wrist edge of the glove thatthey are below the portion of the glove that passes over the widest part of the wearer's hand. The center of the curvature of the elastic means extends length of the two parts of the fastening means as can be interengaged and ensures that the glove will always be taut on the hand of the user. Were the fastening means merely to'be at or near the wrist edge of the glove, the remainder of the opening would not be held closed by fastening means and the sides of the opening could separate and cause the glove to become loose on the hand. g I

The glove of the invention includes another elastic means attached to and extending completely around the glove at the wrist. This second elastic means intersects the fastening means on the edges of the opening into the glove. When the fastening means are engaged, the second elastic meansdraws the glove tight around the wrist. Therefore, when the first elastic means contracts and pulls the glove, the palm is smoothed.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a golfers glove which enables a golfer to comfortably and conclub arising out of the design of the, glove.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a golfers glove which is securely held on the hand of the golfer. It is another object of the present invention to provide a golfer's glove the palm portion of which will remain taut and smooth during use of the removal of the glove.

It; is yet another object of the present invention to novel means for'fastening a golf glove on thehand.

These and other objects of the present invention will veniently use a golf club without interference in the use of-the provide a become apparent from the following description. of theecompanying drawings inwhich: v

1 FIG. 1 is a viewof the rear of a glove designed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragment 'of the glove of FIG. 1 with the rearopeningopened; I

glove after repeated donning and FIG. 4 is a view of a blank which is folded to form the glove of FIGS. 1 and 3; and

FIG. 5 is a view in the direction of arrows 5 in FIG. 1, showing the mounting of an elastic strip.

Glove is formed from a single panel 12 (FIG. 4) of conventional glove material, such as leather.

Panel 12 comprises palm portion 13, which covers the palm of the hand, and a rear portion 15, which covers the rear of the hand. Panel l2is folded over and is fastened together at seam 14 (FIG. 3) along the side of the glove away from thumb 16.

Panel 12 includes an opening 18 for a thumb portion and a thumb cover 20, integral with panel 12, which extends into opening 18. In the completed glove, cover 20 covers the surface of the golfers thumb that contacts the golf club. There is no glove seam between the golfers thumb and palm and the golfclub. This permits a more secure grasp of the golf club which extends inward from wrist edge 32 of the rear of the glove. The opening is V-shaped, with the wider end of the V facing toward wrist edge 32 of the glove. Fastening means 34, 36 are provided along the edges of the opening (FIG. 2). Preferred fastening means are comprised of a material known as Velcro. One element 34 of Velcro consists of a piece of a material which is covered with a myriad of finely woven filaments which are formed into permanent hooks. The other element 36 of the Velcro-fastening means comprises a piece of materialcovered with a myriad of soft, readily engageable loops. When the inwardly facing pad of loops 36 is pressed against the outwardly facing pad of hooks 34, the two interengage,formingasecure fastening means.

As illustrated, the Velcro fastening extends along substantially the entire length of the sides of the opening 30. For

{reasons described above, this maximizes the tautening and smoothing of the palm of the glove.

' first elastic strip 40 is secured along its entire length ":"laterally across rear portion of the glove. The elastic norinally tends to contract and thereby draws inward the lateral edges of portion 15. This exerts a lateral pull on the palm of I the glove, which keeps the palm portion 13 taut.

Elastic-strip 40 is curved with its concave side 42 facing toward'wrist edge 32 of the glove. Asa result, when elastic 40 contracts, it not only draws the lateral edges of portion 15 laterally inward, but it also draws finger portions 28 of the glove more'tightly onto the golfers hand and attempts to pull the wrist portion of the glove off the golfers wrist and toward the fingers. Elastic 40 is positioned between the base of finger portions 28 and the inner end of opening 30 in the rear of the glove. In order for elastic 40 to serve, as described below, to tauten the palm portion of the glove 'by pulling it toward the wrist of the wearer, the elastic 40 should be positioned as far downward toward the wrist of the glove as possible. By means of elastic strip 40, the golf glove is tightened not only in the lateral direction, but in a direction transverse to, and in particular, perpendicular to, the lateral direction. This ensures that the palm of the glove will remain smooth and taut.

The wrist of the glove is fastened by the above-described fastening means 34, 36, whereby the pull exerted by elastic 40 does not move the wrist of the glove off the wearer's wrist, but instead tightens the glove onthe golfer's hand.

The glove is also provided with a second elastic strip 46 like strip 40 which passes completely around the glove near wrist edge 32 which is secured tothe glove in the same manner as strip 40 and which intersects fastening means 34 and 36. When fastening means 34 and 36 are engaged, elastic strip 46 tightly secures the wrist of the glove on the wrist of the wearer. Thus, when the first elastic strip 40 contracts, its pull serves only to tighten the finger portions and palm portions on the hand'of the wearer and does not remove the glove from the golfers wrist.

There has just been described a novel golfer's glove which includes Velcro-fastening means for securing the glove on the golfers hand and elastic means which cooperate with the Velere-fastening means to ensure that the glove will remain tightly on the golfer's hand and that the palm portion of the glove will remain smooth and taut.

Although this invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments, it should be understood that many variations and modifications will now be obvious to those skilled in the art, and, therefore, the scope of this invention is limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims. i

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege or property is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A golf glove comprising a palm and a rear portion; said glove having a wrist portion which covers the wearers wrist and a wrist edge which faces the wearers arm;

an opening into said rear portion inward from said wrist edge, which opening permits widening of said=wrist portion when the glove is donned and removed;

fastening means extending along substantially the entire length of the edges of said opening to enable said opening to be fastened closed when said glove is worn;

elastic means extending across and attached along its length to said rear portion and being located inward from the inner terminus of said rear opening; said first elastic means being attached along a curved path arranged so that the concave side of the curved path' faces toward the wrist edge of the glove, whereby said elastic means pulls the glove tight both laterally and in a direction transverse to the lateral direction and pulls said glove palm portion taut and smooth. 5 2. The golf glove of claim 1, further including second elasti means passing completely around said wrist portion near said wrist edge and intersecting both said edges of said rear opening for cooperating with said fastening means to hold the glove tightly on the wristonce said fastening means is secured.

3. The golf glove of claim 1 wherein said fastening means comprises a first pad on one edge of said rear opening which has on its external surface a myriad of finely woven filaments formed into permanent hooks and which has on the fastening means on the other edge of the opening and placeable over the fastening means on the first edge of the opening, a pad covered with soft loops which interengage with thehooks.

4. The golf glove of claim 3 wherein each said pad of said fastening means extends along substantially the entire length of the opening.

5. The golf glove of claim 4, further including second elastic means passing completely around said wrist portion near said wrist edge and intersecting both said edges of said rear opening for cooperating with said fastening means to hold the glove tightly on the wrist once said fastening means is secured. 

1. A golf glove comprising a palm and a rear portion; said glove having a wrist portion which covers the wearer''s wrist and a wrist edge which faces the wearer''s arm; an opening into said rear portion inward from said wrist edge, which opening permits widening of said wrist portion when the glove is donned and removed; fastening means extending along substantially the entire length of the edges of said opening to enable said opening to be fastened closed when said glove is worn; elastic means extending across and attached along its length to said rear portion and being located inward from the inner terminus of said rear opening; said first elastic means being attached aLong a curved path arranged so that the concave side of the curved path faces toward the wrist edge of the glove, whereby said elastic means pulls the glove tight both laterally and in a direction transverse to the lateral direction and pulls said glove palm portion taut and smooth.
 2. The golf glove of claim 1, further including second elastic means passing completely around said wrist portion near said wrist edge and intersecting both said edges of said rear opening for cooperating with said fastening means to hold the glove tightly on the wrist once said fastening means is secured.
 3. The golf glove of claim 1 wherein said fastening means comprises a first pad on one edge of said rear opening which has on its external surface a myriad of finely woven filaments formed into permanent hooks and which has on the fastening means on the other edge of the opening and placeable over the fastening means on the first edge of the opening, a pad covered with soft loops which interengage with the hooks.
 4. The golf glove of claim 3 wherein each said pad of said fastening means extends along substantially the entire length of the opening.
 5. The golf glove of claim 4, further including second elastic means passing completely around said wrist portion near said wrist edge and intersecting both said edges of said rear opening for cooperating with said fastening means to hold the glove tightly on the wrist once said fastening means is secured. 